A controversial unauthorised spa pool block at the home of Captain Sir Tom Moore’s family will be demolished after the deadline for them to mount a High Court challenge passed.
The row erupted last year after a retrospective planning application for the large C-shaped building in the grounds of the property in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, was refused by the local council.
The war hero’s family appealed the decision, saying the spa pool built at their home was to help elderly people.
Chartered surveyor James Paynter, for the appellants, said the spa pool had “the opportunity to offer rehabilitation sessions for elderly people in the area”.
But inspector Diane Fleming ruled against the family at a hearing in October, concluding that the “scale and massing” of the building had resulted in harm to the grade II-listed Old Rectory the family’s home.
They had six weeks in which the appeal decision could be challenged in the High Court, but the Planning Inspectorate said on Wednesday that no claim was issued by the deadline.
Hannah Ingram-Moore, Capt Sir Tom’s daughter, has been approached for comment.
Capt Sir Tom captured the nation’s hearts after he raised £38.9million for the NHS, including gift aid, by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday at the height of the first national Covid-19 lockdown in April 2020.
He was knighted by the late Queen during a unique open-air ceremony at Windsor Castle in the summer of that year. He died in February 2021.
A foundation was set up in his memory but it is currently the subject of an investigation by the Charity Commission, amid concerns about its management and independence from Capt Sir Tom’s family.
